Riedford becomes leading focus for Memorial boys soccer

Indiana recruit scored 22 goals last season with 15 assists

Zach Nelson / Courier &amp; Press archives
Carmel High School’s Doug Weiss (17) goes up for control of the ball against Memorial’s Michael Riedford during a September 24, 2011, match.

2011 Evansville Courier &amp; Press

After sharing the spotlight with Michael Vieth the past few years, Michael Riedford is the unquestioned leader of Memorial High School’s boys’ soccer team.

“A little bit more will be put on my shoulders,” Riedford said. “But we’ve got a lot of really good players. I don’t think people expect me or coach (Bill) Vieth expects me to score four goals a game for us to win. We have perfectly capable underclassmen who are capable of being good players for us.”

Counting various levels, Riedford said he and Michael Vieth had probably played soccer together since they were about nine years old.

“We meshed extremely well,” said Riedford, who scored 22 goals and had 15 assists playing forward while Vieth contributed 21 goals and 13 assists from midfield in sparking Memorial to a Class 2A semistate berth and a Southern Indiana Athletic Conference championship.

“He produced a lot of points for the team and is a really good player,” Riedford said. “I loved playing with him.”

While Vieth is a freshman at the University of Kentucky, Riedford is a senior who has made an oral commitment to Indiana University. He cannot sign a binding letter of intent with the NCAA defending champion Hoosiers until February.

On Saturday, Memorial’s boys will play North in a 20-minute exhibition at 7 p.m. in the SIAC Jamboree at EVSC Fields, then face Reitz at 8 in another 20-minute period. All eight SIAC boys’ and girls’ teams will be in action during the jamboree.

“For the jamboree at least, he (coach Vieth) tries to split it up to two different teams almost,” Riedford said. “He wants to get a lot of guys in and get them comfortable within our system. It’s a nice kick off to the season. You’re not getting thrown out there being expected to play 80 minutes. It’s kind of a rolling start, getting back in the swing of things. You get to play at a level faster than in practice, get a little bit comfortable. It’s nice to play against guys who don’t know what you’re going to do in every single situation every single time.”

He categorized the jamboree as a good learning experience for the younger players.

“Guys who haven’t gotten to play very much can get used to the varsity style of soccer,” Riedford said. “It’s faster than JV.”

Despite losing 10 seniors, Memorial should again be considered a powerhouse.

“The younger kids learned the ranks on a senior-driven team and now it’s their turn to step in and produce,” Riedford said. “We only have two or three starters back, but I still think we’ll be very good.”

If he needs to remain humble, all Riedford has to do is realize that he’s too slow to play forward in college. He’ll play defensive center mid for IU.